


Horsebread

by Jathis



Series: The Steward and the Sorcerer [63]
Category: Sofia the First (Cartoon)
Genre: Asexual Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Food, Humor, M/M, Personal Growth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:49:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28743528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jathis/pseuds/Jathis
Summary: Baileywick makes a special kind of peasant bread to share.
Relationships: Baileywick/Cedric the Sorcerer
Series: The Steward and the Sorcerer [63]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2091021
Kudos: 1





	Horsebread

He couldn’t help curling his lip in disgust as he watched Baileywick pull the loaves out of the oven. “Did someone deflower the baker’s daughter or something?” he asked.

“I am once again astounded at how polite you are,” Baileywick dryly said, giving the younger man a look over the rim of his glasses. “Truly an amazing example of how one should carry themselves and speak with others.”

Slickwell snorted and gestured to the odd lumps in question. “Then explain why these look like something that was already eaten and recovered from a chamber pot.”

The royal steward closed his eyes. He counted down from five and then opened them again. “These,” he said as he started to place them on a plate, “are called horsebread.”

“Horsebread.”

“Yes.”

“Literally the poorest quality bread that’s barely fit to be fed to horses let alone baked in a castle belonging to a king?” Slickwell asked.

“And the queen’s favorite for between meal snacks.” He savored the surprised look on the other’s face and then took one of the loaves, wrapping it in cloth. “You have been told before, Slickwell. Not everyone here was born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Things the villagers eat and enjoy are just as welcome here as whatever the Nobility and higher classes enjoy.”

“So does this make you think of your own poor sad childhood?” Slickwell asked before he could stop himself. He winced, bracing for the other to erupt at his disrespect.

Baileywick smiled, tucking the loaf under his arm. “It does,” he said, walking past the other and out of the kitchen.

***

Rosemary quickly ducked behind a pile of books as Cedric added the last ingredient. She found an open jar of dragon scales and stuck her head into it. There was a moment of silence and then the room was filled with a thick umber smoke. The magpie kept her head in the jar, safe from the smoke.

The sorcerer coughed and hacked as he stumbled to the window, throwing it open. He leaned out of it as he struggled to catch his breath, his eyes stinging. “Merlin’s mushrooms!” he wheezed. He grabbed his wand and drew a sigil in the air, summoning a gust of wind to blow the smoke clear out of the workshop. Once he had caught his breath, he turned back around.

Rosemary finally poked her head out, flying over to sit on his shoulder to check his condition.

“Perhaps I used too much of the mandrake…” he hummed. He winced when he saw the sludge that stuck to the cauldron. “Well there goes another one,” he sighed, pushing it over to where he kept his broken and useless cauldrons. Later they would be collected and the metal melted down to make new cauldrons or anything else the castle needed.

Rosemary offered him a handkerchief when she saw that his eyes were still watering from the smoke.

“Thank you,” he muttered as he took it. He dabbed at his eyes, huffing as he leaned against a bookshelf. “Maybe if I used less mandrake and more of the worm’s wort..?”

“Another rousing success in the name of sorcery, I take it?” Baileywick asked, standing in the doorway of the workshop.

“Oh yes! My greatest achievement yet!” Cedric huffed, still dabbing at his eyes. “I nearly blinded myself. Perhaps next time I shall succeed!” He pouted when he heard Baileywick chuckle. “You laugh but you’ll see!” he warned, letting Baileywick take the handkerchief from him to help wipe at his eyes. “I shall be the most annoying blind sorcerer the kingdom has ever seen!” Slowly Cedric’s vision cleared up and he blinked when Baileywick kissed him. 

“I would still take care of you,” the steward said.

“I’m sure you would,” he huffed, pulling him closer to take another kiss from him. “You only ever think about others.” Their foreheads touched and Cedric sighed, his earlier frustration leaving him as Baileywick’s calming nature took over.

Both men jumped when Rosemary suddenly let out a squawk. The magpie was on Cedric’s desk, looking at something wrapped in a cloth. She poked it a few times with her beak and then looked back at the pair, waiting.

“Ah! I almost forgot!” Baileywick laughed. He walked over and picked the object up, removing the cloth to show the sorcerer and magpie what he had brought. “Freshly made,” he said.

“What is it?” Cedric asked.

The older man snorted, shaking his head as he set the loaf down. He searched among Cedric’s tools before he came across a knife, using it to cut into the bread. “Sometimes I forget you were born and raised in this castle. Of course you wouldn’t know what it is.”

“Is it some kind of villager thing?”

“It is.” Baileywick cut off a small piece of the bread and held it up. He pressed it to Cedric’s lips and smiled as he took it into his mouth to chew. “It’s called horsebread. It has saved more than one family when food was scarce.”

Cedric hummed as he chewed, tilting his head at the curious taste. “Why is it called horsebread?” he asked.

“It’s called that because it’s something only the lower members of Dunwiddie would make. It’s often said it’s not fit for human consumption, just for livestock.”

The younger man snorted and took another piece. “What utter rot! With the right amount of honey it wouldn’t even be recognized as something from the poor,” he said. He looked over at Baileywick and saw the look on his face. “Slickwell said something.”

“How do you know it was Slickwell?”

“Who else could it have been?” Cedric countered.

He couldn’t argue with that. He sighed and sat on Cedric’s stool, shaking his head. “I worry that he’s not going to change at all,” he confessed. “He’s still ill-tempered and rude to the other staff. The only one he's friendly with is Greylock.”

“Perhaps he’s still adjusting to living in Enchancia,” Cedric offered. He sighed when this did not cheer Baileywick up. “I am sure you’re doing your best, love.”

“I just don’t know how to reach him. He’s closed off to everything and everyone who isn’t Greylock.”

“Greylock could make friends with a goblin suffering from a severe case of gout,” Cedric said with a shrug. He offered Rosemary a piece of the bread and the magpie gulped it down. “Or...maybe some people just can’t change?”

“People said the same about you.”

“Yes, but I am dashingly handsome so I seduced you with my wicked sorcery to cover up my lack of changing from people.”

The older man laughed, shaking his head. He opened his mouth to say something when there was a knock on the door.

“...that’s the first time someone has knocked on my door in years,” Cedric said.

Baileywick got up and answered the door. “Slickwell?”

The former steward of Rudistan stared at the floor, his posture stiff and clearly uncomfortable. Without warning he held out a jar of honey butter.

“Um…” he took the jar from him, raising an eyebrow as he waited for an explanation.

“...sorry.” With that Slickwell was off, racing down the stairs before Baileywick could respond.

“Well would you look at that.” Cedric smiled as he took the jar from him, twisting off the lid to look inside. “That seems like some kind of change, hm?”

“I suppose so,” Baileywick softly laughed. He blinked as Cedric put a dab of the butter on the end of his nose.

“You know I hate to say I told you so…”

“You revel in telling someone you told them so.”

Cedric smiled brightly, giggling as he took another dab of butter and offered it to his familiar. “I do!”

“Use a butter knife, you filthy creature!”

“It’s a fresh jar and it’s ours now!” he countered. “No one else is going to be using it!” He squawked when Baileywick suddenly dipped a finger into the jar, smearing a good amount onto his own long nose.

“What’s fair is fair.”

Cedric huffed but smiled when Baileywick kissed him before cleaning both of their noses off. “Whatever shall we do with all this honey butter and horsebread?”

“I’m sure we can manage to do something between the both of us.”

Rosemary puffed up her feathers in agreement and was rewarded with another piece of bread as the couple laughed.


End file.
